We study the problem of disorder-free metals near a continuous Ising nematic quantum critical point in $d=3+1$ dimensions. We begin with perturbation theory in the `Yukawa coupling between the electrons and undamped bosons (nematic order parameter fl
uctuations) and show that the perturbation expansion breaks down below energy scales where the bosons get substantially Landau damped. Above this scale however, we find a regime in which low-energy fermions obtain an imaginary self-energy that varies linearly with frequency, realizing the `marginal Fermi liquid phenomenologycite{Varma}. We discuss a large N theory in which the marginal Fermi liquid behavior is enhanced while the role of Landau damping is suppressed, and show that quasiparticles obtain a decay rate parametrically larger than their energy.
The Kerr effect can arise in a time-reversal invariant dissipative medium that is gyrotropic, i.e. one that breaks inversion ($mathcal I$) and all mirror symmetries. Examples of such systems include electron analogs of cholesteric liquid crystals, an
d their descendants, such as systems with chiral charge ordering. We present arguments that the striking Kerr onset seen in the pseudogap phase of a large number of cuprate high temperature superconductors is evidence of chiral charge ordering. We discuss additional experimental consequences of a phase transition to a gyrotropic state, including the appearance of a zero field Nernst effect.
Following the discovery of the Fe-pnictide superconductors, LDA band structure calculations showed that the dominant contributions to the spectral weight near the Fermi energy came from the Fe 3d orbitals. The Fermi surface is characterized by two ho
le surfaces around the $Gamma$ point and two electron surfaces around the M point of the 2 Fe/cell Brillouin zone. Here, we describe a 2-band model that reproduces the topology of the LDA Fermi surface and exhibits both ferromagnetic and $q=(pi,0)$ spin density wave (SDW) fluctuations. We argue that this minimal model contains the essential low energy physics of these materials.
We present a new method to study the Nernst effect and diamagetism of an extreme type-II superconductor dominated by phase fluctuations. We work directly with vortex variables and our method allows us to tune vortex parameters (e.g., core energy and
number of vortex species). We find that diamagnetic response and transverse thermoelectric conductivity ($alpha_{xy}$) persist well above the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature, and become more pronounced as the vortex core energy is increased. However, they textit{weaken} as the number of internal vortex states are increased. We find that $alpha_{xy}$ closely tracks the magnetization $(-M/T)$ over a wide range of parameters.
We consider extended Hubbard models with repulsive interactions on a Honeycomb lattice and the transitions from the semi-metal phase at half-filling to Mott insulating phases. In particular, due to the frustrating nature of the second-neighbor repuls
ive interactions, topological Mott phases displaying the quantum Hall and the quantum spin Hall effects are found for spinless and spinful fermion models, respectively. We present the mean-field phase diagram and consider the effects of fluctuations within the random phase approximation (RPA). Functional renormalization group analysis also show that these states can be favored over the topologically trivial Mott insulating states.
